1000 tonnes of mackerel in 34 hours

HB Grandi’s pelagic vessel Venus is on the way to Vopnafjörður to dock this evening with 1000 tonnes of mackerel on board. The catch was taken in only 34 hours. Víkingur is already alongside in Vopnafjörður, so Venus will not be able to start landing until tomorrow afternoon.

‘We did well,’ said Venus’s skipper Bergur Einarsson.

‘The mackerel are moving fast and the main migration is now to the east in the Herring Loophole. There’s a big difference in the fishing now, but in general fishing has been good and it has all worked out well for us.’

According to Bergur Einarsson, the mackerel are present in the Herring Loophole at the same time as last year, and the difference is that fishing has been better in Icelandic waters this year and lasted longer than usual.

‘It’s fine fish. The mackerel out there are on the smaller side compared to the fish were were catching in home waters, but we still have a 450-460 gramme average weight. As well as the Icelandic fleet, there are Faroese, Russian and Greenlandic vessels fishing, and the number varies depending on how many are discharging or on the fishing grounds,’ he said, commenting that they are in no hurry steaming home. It’s a 340-nautical mile steam from where the last haul was taken and they already knew they would have to wait to discharge.